LUtheran and other absolution

[billcu1]

I would like to know from the Catholic POV about Lutheran absolution. Is this a valid absolution? And if so how did it come to be about? It is my understanding that martin Luther was a Priest not a Bishop to pass on the Rite of Absolution. is that right?

And also any Lutherans please (name removed by moderator)ut your beliefs, if you would like.

 

[John_Martin]

Reconciliation is not a Sacrament to Lutherans, so no Grace is bestowed by a Lutheran Pastor when he declares absolution; he is merely interpreting the reduced Lutheran bible by his own understanding of the Word, for he believes in the Word Alone, his own understanding that Jesus spoke to him, the Pastor, via the pages of the book, that he could tell people they are forgiven, even though Jesus was talking to 11 other people when he literally and materially breathed on them in person and said to the 11, “Receive the Holy Spirit; if you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any they are retained.”
So, the Lutheran Pastor (all of them, actually) is presuming to be one of the eleven disciples spoken of in John’s Gospel, even though they would not be born for 2000 years. With no Apostolic dispensation of the same gift and the Apostolic interpretation of the same, Lutherans are pretending, thinking that some kind of “kerygma” is empowering their speech, for they deny it as a Sacrament, and deny Grace is anything but a “favoring by God”, when in fact it is substantially the presence of the Holy Spirit infusing virtue into the Penitent.
Lutheran Absolution came about with the continued practices of the Catholic Church as pious behavior while eliminating any supernatural expectation of the pious behavior, as in Sacraments. Even in Lutheran Sacraments (Communion and Baptism) there is no actual and indelible change to the person - infused Grace and Virtue.
I say this as a former Lutheran Pastor.

 

[Hodos]

I would like to know from the Catholic POV about Lutheran absolution. Is this a valid absolution? And if so how did it come to be about? It is my understanding that martin Luther was a Priest not a Bishop to pass on the Rite of Absolution. is that right?

And also any Lutherans please (name removed by moderator)ut your beliefs, if you would like.

The authority to forgive sins was given to the Church corporate based upon our common confession of Christ as Lord. We see this in Matthew 18 where Christ tells the disciples and the crowds listening to him that they are to forgive the sins of the brother should they repent. Notice that Paul also commands this of the entire Church in Corinth when in 2 Corinthians a brother has repented of grievous sin. In Ephesians the entire Church is commanded to forgive. Notice also that John’s first epistle where confession and absolution are specifically spoken about, are addressed to the entire church, not only to clergy.

The person who is called to be a pastor of a congregation is not done so at the behest of a bishop, but at the behest of the Holy Spirit. We see this in Acts when Judas’ seat remains empty and the apostles are faced with the need to fill the office of apostle vacated by Judas. They issue a call to two candidates that they feel are qualified and suited to execute the office, but it is the Holy Spirit who chooses and calls the candidate to that office. The pastor then is the person who publicly exercises the task of declaring forgiveness of sin to the corporate body of the Church for the purpose of maintaining discipline and good order, but the ability to declare forgiveness of sin is never removed from the Church corporate.

Lastly, the idea that reconciliation is not a Sacrament to Lutherans is irrelevant. We have a different definition of what constitutes a Sacrament (note that the word Sacrament is not defined anywhere in scripture and is subject to interpretation). Our definition of what constitutes a Sacrament is stricter than the Roman Catholic definition, which is why we maintain that Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are Sacraments, while there is some debate as to whether Confession and Absolution are a Sacrament. However, that is an issue of semantics. We practice Confession and Absolution as a rite of the Church, observed both corporately in the Divine Service, as well as in private confession. Also note, that our confessional documents uphold the practice of Confession and Absolution on multiple occasions.